County Planning Commission - Regular Meeting

Good afternoon. I called the Rockdale County Planning Commission meeting to order at this time. At this time, could everyone please rise for the not not ir Let's please remain standing for the pledge of allegiance. I pledge allegiance to the flag of The United States Of America Okay. At this time, we'll have a determination for quorum.

We have roll call at this time. Jolly Peterson Junior, I'm present. Melissa Yancey. Ernestine Stivalgosby. Gosby. Angelique McClendon. Danny Foster.

Here.

Okay. Upon roll call, we do not have quorum at this time. Okay. My mistake. We do have Coram. Okay. At this time, we're going to go ahead with our approval of the agenda. Okay. So we're need a motion for the approval of the agenda for tonight.

I make a motion to approve the agenda for 05/14/2026 at 6PM.

Okay. Do I have a second? Second. All in favor say aye. Aye. All opposed nay. The motion carries acceptance of the agenda. Now we'll have a motion for the approval of the minutes.

I make a motion to the approval of minutes from the meeting, 03/12/2026.

Second. Okay. The motion is do I have a second? Second. All in favor, state by saying aye. Aye. All opposed nay. The motion carries. Okay.

Don't forget your April your April 9 minutes.

Okay. So that particular motion was for the March 12 and the April 9 meeting minutes.

Shouldn't we do I thought

it gonna be a separate motion for the morning. Yeah. April 9.

Are we gonna do separate or

are we gonna do But she don't say March.

She don't say March.

Okay. So we need the one now. Now I need a motion for the April 9 minutes.

I make a motion to approve to 04/09/2026 meeting of the Rockdale Planning Commission.

Do I have second? Second. All in favor, state by saying aye. Aye. Those opposed, nay. Okay. The motion carries. Approval for the minutes. Okay. Now, we have public hearing rules.

Speaker must sign their name to the appropriate zoning case sheet and fill out a public comment card to register their intent to speak prior to the start of this meeting. Each item of business shall be handled in the order that it appears on the agenda unless upon motion of the planning commission, the order is changed. A member of the city or county planning staff will present each item to the Conyers Rockdale Planning Commission and will further provide a recommendation upon each item of business. The zoning applicant or the agent will state their name and address at the podium and will have ten minutes in which to make his or her presentation. Any portion of their ten minutes may be reserved for rebuttal following the opposition to the application.

After the applicant's presentation, all registered speakers who wish to speak in favor of the application will then be heard. Prior to speaking upon the item, each registered speaker will state their name and address at the podium. They will also be limited to a total of ten minutes. Once the applicant has made his or her presentation and the speakers in favor of the application have been heard, the secretary will then call upon the registered speakers in opposition to the application. The opposition shall likewise be limited to a total of ten minutes.

Once the public hearing portion is closed, no other speakers will be heard. As a reminder, speakers are to address the planning commission, not the applicant or the audience, and are expected to conduct themselves in an appropriate manner. The use of abusive or profane language shall not be allowed. No debate or argument between speakers shall be permitted. After all public comments have been heard, the planning commission may elect to hold general discussion.

The planning commission will vote upon a recommendation that will continue forward to the city of Conyers City Council or the Rockdale County Board of Commissioners public hearings. Each speaker.

Okay. Now we have unfinished business item r one. The first item under the unfinished business is text two zero two six dash zero three in order audience to repeal and replace in its entirety subpart b, plan and development of the code of ordinance of Rockdale County. I'll ask the staff to report at this time.

Alright. Thank you, sir. Good evening, everybody.

Good

evening. Alright. And so where we are just to orient everybody to where we are in the process and we'll also conclude with a timeline of where we are. So as of Tuesday, we had three moratoria extended to September 8. Those coincide with the work that we're doing on the Unified Development Ordinance, any updates, text amendments that go along with it.

And so where we are right now, after this meeting, Planning Commission makes a recommendation, the Board of Commissioners will hold a zoning public hearing on the twenty eighth in here at six p. M. To also review the UDO amendments, text proposals at that time. Right now, it's scheduled for June 9 following that date. But since we've extended the moratoria, we're also needing some more time to look at the UDO to make some further adjustments based on the feedback that we've received lately.

We'll be extending that time to review the UDO beyond June 9. Okay. So the process doesn't conclude today. The process does not does not conclude on June 9. That process will continue.

We're working on the tentative timeline right now that will be reviewed by the board on how we'll how we'll proceed after June 9, but we definitely will not go beyond September 8 at this time. And so we'll have some updates on what the process will look like after June 9. Alright, so where we are tonight. So you all have had the opportunity a couple times to review the UDO, the proposed text amendments that go along with it. And so since the last time we met in April, staff's been working with our consultant CPL.

We had a number we had a couple public hearings well, not public hearings, but public engagement sessions in the month of April. So we had one catered to developers, real estate agents, builders and the like. We also held a full community engagement session in April as well. I got a lot of feedback at that session, had a good turnout, good discussion involving a number of the proposals that included in the UDO. So with that feedback, some of that feedback, we've made some tweaks, made some revisions, refined some things.

Still a work in progress. So this will just be an update on a few things have changed since the last time we met. So one of those things, Article 18, zoning procedures and hearings. So all of our public hearings, all of the applications, rezonings, variances, etcetera, that go through a public hearing process, those are found in Article 18. So we've gone through, reviewed state law to ensure that the regulations that we have in there are in compliance with state law as it in regards to what the process should be, public notification, all of those procedures found in the state code.

One of the new changes that we made, we will be increasing the number Planning Commission members from five members to seven members. We currently have seven members on the Board of Adjustment, and so we want them both to be even and so we'll add additional seats to the Planning Commission, this body. Also we'll look at so we've had some cases recently that have come up that precipitated the need for deferrals or withdrawals. So those things aren't clearly defined in the code currently. So we've made some adjustments there to account for those various application steps.

So be it whether an applicant wants to withdraw completely and end an application process, whether they want the item to be deferred by the Board of Commissioners to a future meeting, we're accounting for that. Whether there is a public hearing that needs to be extended or continued by the Board of Commissioners, we're accounting for that as well. So we've included all of those things as updates to the UDO in Article 18. We continue to revise and refine the use tables. So if you recall, we've broken the use table into two parts.

So there'll be an agricultural residential use table with all the permissible uses for those types of settings. Then we'll have a separate use table for commercial uses, industrial uses, which uses are allowed, which uses are prohibited, subject to special use permit, so on and so forth. So we continue to tweak it as we get feedback. We're adding uses. We're removing antiquated things from the use tables.

We're adding supplemental regulations that go along with those things as well. So just wanted to highlight one of them. So, agritourism is something that we've heard a desire for from the community. So, we have members of the community that have large agricultural pieces of land who would like addition to farming and agricultural activities, use it for special events, gatherings, educational things, recreational things, and so that's one of the additions that we've made to the code. Subject to a special use permit in our Ag residential district and also our Conservation Village District, which is one of our new proposed districts.

So as I mentioned, supplemental regulations are in Article nine. So for certain uses, just due to the nature of the use or the impact or the activity, we have supplemental regulations that go along with some of those And so it may limit hours, it may restrict locations, it may require additional setbacks or buffers, what have you, that go along with different uses. So as we add uses, as we look at the use table, we're also making modifications to those supplemental standards. We've also taken a look at our zoning districts. So we went through the proposed changes before, so we've just made some refinement to this table, Table two.

Five. On the left, you see the current existing zoning districts and on the right, you see the proposed zoning districts that would exist under the new UDO if adopted as listed here in this table. So the new districts are the Conservation Village District and the Monastery Village Districts. We're also proposing the inclusion of a plan unit development district. And let's see.

We are removing several districts. The collaborative residential subdivision is proposed for removal along with the Conservation Subdivision ordinance District as well as the Office Business Park District and the Civic Institutional District. And so on the right, you can see what districts they'll be folded into. So any existing properties in those zoning district, they will be converted to the new zoning districts. Any use that's already on the property, already in effect can continue despite the zoning district change.

The change would only apply to any new uses in the future. So we've talked quite a bit about tiny homes and college homes throughout this process. We haven't made any significant changes to it. We're still reviewing that. We're still taking feedback.

We're still trying to refine the tiny homes and cottage homes as part of the UDO update. As I mentioned before, the plan unit development would be a new special purpose zoning district that would be available for developers to promote their own projects or if there's something that falls outside of the scope of the zoning districts that we already have, this tool would allow for some flexibility to create a master plan for a given parcel or number of parcels, mixed use projects, senior housing projects, other types of projects that may be emerging technologies or what have you, could utilize this process. It's similar to any other rezoning process, any zoning rezoning request. It would go through this body for recommendation to the Board of Commissioners and ultimately would have to be approved by the Board of Commissioners with its own development standards and design features and all the things that will come along with the development proposal. We are also proposing the introduction of accessory dwelling units to the zoning to the UDL as part of the zoning regulations.

And so this, we've laid out what those development standards would be for an ADU on residential property and in agricultural districts. We haven't made any significant modifications to it at this time. So one of the things that we have spent a good bit of time on over the past few months are the residential development standards. So on the left, you see the current standards that we have for agricultural residential and our residential districts and on the right you'll see the proposed changes to those districts. For the agricultural residential districts, we're proposing to reduce the minimum lot size from two acres to one acre.

For our residential single family R1 district, we're proposing reducing the minimum lot size to 14,000 square feet if the property is connected to public water and sewer or 30,000 square feet if it's on septic. And so as you go across, there are other development standards that would go along with the minimum lot size, minimum lot width, minimum setbacks, so on and so forth. We have not made any changes to the RM multifamily zoning district. As I mentioned before, the CV Conservation Village and the MV Monastery Village, those are brand new, so we're still tinkering with those two districts to find the right calibration. We mentioned before we were proposing modifications to our residential design standards, so that includes exterior materials, some the architectural features that you would find on a residential home, be it recesses, it roof pitch, garages, porches, etc.

So we're still tinkering with it based on feedback that we've heard on both sides of the debate. So we'll continue to refine it and work on something that will hopefully benefit the entire community. Oh, did I go too fast? Alright. On the non residential side, as I mentioned before, as we make tweaks to the use table, this is the non residential mixed use land use table.

So one topic of discussion we're all familiar with are data centers. So what we've done with data centers, we've broken them down into three categories: basic kind of standard data center, which is the top the first row you see there under the red, then you have the high intensity data processing facility, so those are your large hyper scale, really really large data center facilities and then the colocation micro data facilities are something that you would find in a traditional office building. And so for all of them right now we're recommending a special use permit. So they would only be approved subject to a process that goes through at least two public hearings, planning commission consideration and Board of Commissioner approval and obviously those public hearings would allow for community feedback and contributions to whatever the outcome may be for that process. So for your standard data center, we're only proposing to allow it in our M2 General Industrial Zoning District by special use permit only.

For the high intensity hyper scale facilities only in the M2 Zoning District subject to special use permit approval and then the smaller facilities we're allowing in our C2 which is a general commercial district, O and I office institutional zoning district, light industrial and M two general industrial, all subject to special use permit process. So some of the development standards that we proposed so far in this process and we continue to tinker refine those as we gather feedback as we do research on best practices that go along with these. Right now, we're proposing a 500 foot setback from any residential residentially zoned or property that contains a residential use. 750 feet from any property that contains a private or public whale or any body of water. 1,000 feet from any medical facility, childcare facility, schools, or places of assembly.

We're also requiring that any future data center be within two miles of the I 20 Corridor. One of the the application requirements will require coordination with public utilities and then eventually we'll need proof of approval of public facilities and public utilities associated with any new data center. We're proposing that the applicant at the time of application submittal include an energy, water consumption plan. We're requiring a closed loop system for any proposed data center. We're also proposing a decommissioning plan.

So should the facility terminate its use at some point in time, what is the plan for how that site would be reused or otherwise brought into better condition for reuse, repurpose? For any approved data centers through this process, we will require an annual compliance report that would be due to Department of Planning and Development every year. The regulations also contain fire safety requirements, noise impact assessment requirement, and as I mentioned, the annual compliance report. So this is the proposed timeline for the remainder of this process as of today. It is subject to change.

But highlighted in the yellow is where we are now, May 14 Planning Commission public hearing. So there'll be a BOC zoning public hearing on May 28, 6PM in this location. Following that date, tentatively June 9, the board would have considered final adoption. At this time, we do not anticipate the UDO being adopted on June 9. The process will continue beyond June 9.

So right now, we're proposing a second public hearing with the BOC on June 25. That'll be here, 6PM. That'll be the final public hearing for the UDO tentatively. And if we follow that process, we anticipate adoption on 07/14/2026 at a morning BOC meeting. If adopted on July 14, that would give the staff time to go through the administrative transition process.

So this is a heavy lift to transition from one code to a new code. All the applications have to be updated, the technical things in our permitting system that need to be updated, website improvements, process updates, all of those things. So that gives us about a month and some change to make all of those things happen after the UDO was adopted, if it's adopted on July 14. And we will propose an effective date of September 8. So even if it's approved, adopted on July 14, it would not take effect until September 8.

So anything September 8 and beyond would fall under the new UDO is what we're proposing at this time. So with that, I will stop there and field any questions from the planning commission.

I don't have questions. I don't have any. Okay. We'll move ahead if there we don't have any questions at this time. Anyone

Before you move on, hold on one moment. We do have a comment from Jess Stevens. Jess

okay. Okay. Okay. So in the public hearing, there is no one for comments at this time. Okay. Since we have no comments at this time, we'll go ahead and proceed. The staff is recommending that the item be referred back to the Planning Commission for a third public hearing cycle. Okay? So and that's item r one on this agenda. So we'll have a call form of motion at this time.

Do we have a motion to recommend referral back to the Planning Commission for text 202603? Do you have a motion?

Just for clarification, wanna make sure I understand. We're making a motion to defer the UDO back to the Board of Commissioners. Right? Is that a correct statement?

Yes.

Which is item r one.

R one. Okay. I make a motion to defer the UDO back to the POC for further discussion and review by the public.

Okay. Do we have a second? Second. Okay. All in favor, speak by saying aye.

Aye.

Those opposed, nay. The motion carries to refer back the Planning Commission for text 202603. K. Now we have reports. No reports? Okay. So if there's no reports, the next scheduled planning commission meeting will be 06/11/2026 at 6PM. If there's no further comments or concerns, we'll we're we will need a motion for adjournment of this meeting.

I make a motion to adjourn the meeting today, 05/14/2026 at 6PM. I second.

Okay. All in favor state by saying aye.

Aye.

Those opposed, nay. The motion carries. The meeting is adjourned.